Communion and Liberation

CL is a movement within the Church. It is hard to define or explain, but I have a superficial appreciation by reading a few books. I have been struck by the dizzying diverse expressions of the Catholic Faith by the devout, but CL was an exceptional breath of fresh air over against a Christian reductionism and dualism too prevelant among Christians inside and outside the Catholic Church.

I thought John would find it interesting to know (if he doesn't already, he has a nose for sniffing out the minutest of facts {librarian blood}) that the editor of the IMAGE Journal is involved with CL in some way or another, as is the godspy website I linked to earlier.

The "founder" of CL (though he set out to found nothing) was Father Luigi Guissani, who was an eminant theologian in the Diocese of Milan before leaving to teach high school Italian youth.
His story is very interesting, read about it here: http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=2699

One of the most interesting events held by CL is the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples. The following is off their website.

"With a yearly average of over 600 thousand visitors, the Meeting in Rimini—which has taken place every year since 1980, in a week during late August—is the most frequented summer festival of encounters, culture events, music and stage-shows in the world.Though the number and variety of events characterizing the program has increased over the years, the number of attendances is so great that the presence of the public at the single encounters, some of dealing with complex cultural questions, is extraordinary, often of the order of 5-10 thousand, sometimes reaching well over 10 thousand.Over the years we have presented events, exhibitions, theatrical productions and concerts of the highest level, in addition to witnesses by such historic personalities as John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Eugene Ionesco, Lech Walesa, Giovanni Testori, William Congdon, Augusto del Noce, Olivier Clement, Mario Luzi, Margherita Guarducci, Giulio Andreotti and Riccardo Muti, who have enriched the kermesse with high-profile contributions.The Meeting aspires to be a place where the Christian faith “cries out to the whole world the passion for man which characterizes it,” always in open encounter, in dialogue and through acknowledging the value of human and artistic expressions coming from various cultures and traditions. "